


Insomnia

by rosesandribbons



Series: FebuWhump 2021 [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Insomnia, Nightmares, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 03:27:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29182527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosesandribbons/pseuds/rosesandribbons
Summary: The storm was supposed to last for the next four days, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get through. The day was fine during the storm, having Mr. Stark by him the whole time and plenty of noise to block it out.It was just the night that Peter dreaded.FebuWhump day three: Insomnia
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: FebuWhump 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138787
Comments: 8
Kudos: 150





	Insomnia

Light flashed through the room again, causing Peter to violently flinch and curl even tighter into a ball. The windows rattled as thunder shook the Avengers Compound, and the boy couldn’t help the whimper that fell from his lips.

May was currently residing in Cancun with some friends for work. They had finally decided to take some time off, so it had been set that Peter would be staying under Tony’s watch at the compound until May returned home.

Originally, Peter had been thrilled with the idea of staying at the compound for two full weeks. The longest he had ever stayed was one weekend, and now that it was summer break, he had the entire time to explore the place and spend some quality time with his mentor.

But a day before May had left, it had been announced on the news that one of the biggest storms in ten years would be hitting New York.

The minute May had heard, she called Peter.

_ “Are you sure you’ll be alright, sweetie? I don’t mind skipping the trip.” _

_ “I’ll be fine May. They don’t even affect me that badly  _ _ anymore _ _. Plus, I can just go to Mr. Stark if I need anything.” _

(Peter was pretty sure the both knew that was a lie)

_ May had sighed on the other end of the phone after being silent for a few moments. “Alright Peter, but I want you to call me if it gets bad again, okay? No matter what time it is.” _

_ “Fine, May.” _

_ “Promise me?” _

_ “I promise.” _

Peter could at least defend himself by saying that he kept most of his promises.

Key word; most.

The thing was, May had done so much for him and it was the first time she had taken some time off work in years. Just because Peter was scared of some stupid thunderstorms, doesn’t mean he has to ruin his  aunt's trip.

The hard part was, the phobia was more of a new thing.

When the boy was younger, he was never scared of thunderstorms. Quite the opposite actually. He would always play in the rain at every chance he got, finding the feeling of raindrops on his skin soothing. The thunder and lightning  weren’t his favorite, but sometimes when it was too dangerous to go  outside, he would spend the day playing board games with Ben and May.

But then after Ben was gone, and after the civil war and after the vulture, Peter had nightmares.

They ranged in severity, sometimes just something small that barely affected him, other times causing him to wake up with a scream on his lips.

Unsurprisingly, the first time there had been a thunderstorm after the bite was one of the nights where Peter was having a bad nightmare. The vulture had been there, there was a building on him and  _ god he couldn’t  _ _ breathe _ _. _

He gasped awake upon hearing a crash, and looked at his window to see it was no longer a window, but something else was there and it was pointy and was going to kill him and he  _ still. Couldn't. Breathe. _

The boy had screamed and screamed until May had come crashing into his room, pulling him from the rubble and holding him tight.

So yeah, Peter stopped enjoying thunderstorms after that. There hadn’t been many since, but whenever Peter thought he saw a flash of lightning, he would head straight to May’s room and spend the night there instead.

But now May was in another country, and there was no way Peter was willing to go to his mentor because of a stupid phobia. Instead, he sucked it up and spent the night shaking like a leaf under his blanket.

Mr. Stark had told him he wasn’t even allowed to go on patrol during the storm. When Peter had started to argue, the man had just stopped him with saying, “You ever heard of ‘The Itsy-Bitsy Spider’, kid?” And the subject had been dropped.

The morning came slowly enough, and the second his clock read 7am, Peter was out of bed and in the shower. He took his time waking himself up, sure that there were dark bags under his eyes.

After washing his face Peter got out of the shower, rubbed lotion on his face and was surprised by how he  managed to actually look presentable.

Mr. Stark was already in the kitchen when Peter arrived, and when the man barely glanced at him while saying hello, Peter almost melted with  relief . The two ate breakfast and went about their day.

The storm was supposed to last for the next four days, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get through. The day was fine during the storm, having Mr. Stark by him the whole time and plenty of noise to block it out.

It was just the night that Peter dreaded.

The two were up until 11 o’clock working in the lab, and once they closed up and headed to the common room, they decided to finish the night off with a movie.

By the time the credits had rolled on the screen it was almost two in the morning, and Peter was still dreading going to bed.

“Wanna watch another one, Mr. Stark?” he asked eagerly.

Tony huffed at the  boy's tone. “Kid, my partying years are long gone. I think I’m clocking out,” he said as he stretched his legs out.

“Oh, come on. I know it hasn’t even been a week since you pulled your last all-nighter.”

“Yeah, and I know Spider-kids tend to wear people out.”

“Not fair.”

“Not wrong.”

Peter rolled his eyes playfully despite the growing pit in his stomach.

Tony stepped forward and ruffled Peter’s hair while saying, “Get some sleep, kiddo. Don’t stay up too late.”

Once Tony went to bed, Peter slowly made his way towards his room. After stressing about going to bed all day, Peter knew he wasn’t going to have much luck with falling asleep.

And boy was he right.

He had attempted blocking out the sounds of thunder, but nothing was enough to dominate his enhanced hearing. The lightning wasn’t as bad, but every time he saw the flash in front of his closed eyelids, he shook even worse than before because he knew what was to come.

After Peter had laid in bed for two hours with no luck, the thought of going to Mr. Stark crossed his mind, much to his dismay.

_ Wake the man up, tell him you’re scared of the most  _ _ ridiculous _ _ thing, and then force him to help you. _

_ Not. A. Chance. _

The brunette rolled back over in his bed. He knew he wasn’t going to last the whole night, and he couldn’t stay awake for too many more or Mr. Stark would notice.

Knowing that  lying in bed wouldn’t help his case, Peter crawled out of bed and left his room, deciding to grab a bottle of water from the kitchen.

Peter grabbed a plastic bottle from the fridge just as a loud crack of thunder reached his ears. He couldn’t help but glance up at his mentors cracked open door.

_ No. I am not asking Iron Man to solve my childish problems. _

But then another bolt of lightning flashed outside the large windows, and the thunder that followed was louder than ever. Peter couldn’t stop the tears that sprung to his eyes.

He shuffled over to the  man's door, and before he could stop himself his hand was gently pushing the door open.

Peter peeked his head inside the door, and his eyes widened at the sight of his mentor sitting up in his bed and poking at a Stark-Pad.

The kid quickly backed away from the door, and he could’ve sworn he saw Tony’s head snap towards him just as he did so.

“Kid? That you?”

_ Yep. _

Peter raced back to his room as fast and silently as he could. He quickly set his water on the nightstand and crawled under his covers, squeezing his eyes shut as the panic started to settle in.

At the sound of footsteps outside his door, Peter held his breathe as his heart pounded in his chest. He tucked his face under the covers when he heard Tony enter his room, and tried to keep his breathing even when he felt the bed dip next to him.

“Pete?” the man whispered, and Peter did his best not to make a sound. Tears started to fill the  boy's eyes once again, although Peter wasn’t quite sure if it was because of the storm this time. “Kiddo, I know you’re awake. Your water’s still cold.”

A warm hand dipped underneath his  comforter and pulled it back, revealing Peter’s face just as a tear made its way down his temple.

“Oh, don’t cry, buddy. C’mere.” Tony’s arms wrapped around Peter and pulled him up against his chest.

Peter’s crying only got worse as the man did so. Not knowing why, Peter just clung to his mentor as the man whispered small words of reassurance into his ear, waiting for him to calm down.

When the tears stopped and tear tracks were left in their place, Tony separated the two of them to cup Peter’s face and wipe the leftover tears off with the pads of his thumbs.

“What’s up, bud? Can’t sleep?” the man asked softly.

Peter just nodded, not being able to look Tony in the eye.

“What’s  keepin ’ you up, hm? Do  ya need-”

He was cut off as the sound of thunder once again rattled through the room. Before either of them knew what was happening, Peter was curled  against Tony’s chest once again, face hidden in his  mentors neck.

Tony’s eyes  widened a but in  realization , but then morphed into guilt when he realized Peter had been going through this for more than twenty-four hours.

“Storm bugging  ya , kiddo?” Peter sniffed and nodded; face still tucked in the  man's neck. “That’s okay, Pete. You should’ve told me sooner,  Friday’s got plenty of settings to filter this kind of stuff out.”

As the man finished talking, the sound of the pouring rain from outside immediately stopped. Light no longer flashed past the curtains, and for the first time in almost two days, it was silent.

Peter sighed as everything stopped. Tony just held the boy tighter and slightly rocked them back and forth.

Eventually, Peter’s eyes were drooping and Tony was holding up most of the  kid's weight.

“Alright kiddo, I think it’s sleepy time for the Spider-baby.”

Peter just hummed in response, not even caring enough to argue with the  man's words.

As Tony moved to lay the kid down, he nearly fell on top of him. After a moment of confusion, the billionaire realized that Peter was sticking to him.

Because the kid could literally do that.

“You want me to stay with you tonight?” Tony asked, already  maneuvering them so Peter was resting with his head on Tony’s chest.

Peter snuggled closer to the man, basically already asleep as Tony pulled the blankets up to the  boy's neck.

And in replacement to the thunder and fear, Peter fell asleep to the low hum of the arc reactor casing and calloused hands running through his hair.


End file.
